Women’s Basketball
Top Performers
APU: Kelly Hardeman 20 pts, 9 reb, 4 ast
Chaminade: Glacen Florita 16 pts, 3 ast, 2 stl
The Azusa Pacific women’s basketball team faced the Chaminade Silverswords in the Felix Event Center Monday night and came away with a commanding 82-62 win.
Leading the offensive charge for Azusa Pacific was junior forward Kelly Hardeman with 20 points. Five Cougars scored in double digits.
The Cougars took command of the game very early and never looked back, leading the Silverswords 48-25 at halftime. The first half was riddled with turnovers, 17 committed by Chaminade and 15 by the APU. Hardeman had 14 points in the first half and junior center Maggie Dumphy had 12.
The Cougars allowed Chaminade to inch its way back in the second half, but held on to the lead until the end.
“We weren’t guarding. We weren’t talking. And we just said, ‘Hey, we’re ahead, so let’s just play,’” said head coach T.J. Hardeman. “We lost the second half. Throughout the game at different times, we were in good spots. We didn’t finish defensively like we would have liked to, but a lot of the time we were in good spots.”
The win moves the Cougars to 16-9 on the year, 12-6 in the PacWest.
Men’s Basketball
Top Performers
APU: Bruce English 17 pts, 2 ast, 2 stl
Chaminade: Frankie Eteuati 19 pts, 15 reb
The Azusa Pacific men’s basketball team went head-to-head with the Chaminade Silverswords at home Monday night, taking an 86-65 victory.
Junior guard Bruce English led the Cougars with 17 points, closely followed by fellow guard Robert Sandoval with 15 points. A total of 47 points came from the APU bench.
“In terms of control, we’ve got a deep team, and each time we subbed, it elevated,” said head coach Justin Leslie. “Those guys were huge coming in and giving us a boost when we desperately needed it out there.”
With the first nine minutes gone in the game, the Cougars had the 19-10 lead. They kept up their fast-tempo offense, entering the half on top 49-32. English led the first frame with 13 points. APU went 10-for-19 from beyond the arc in the half.
“We have confidence in our bench, and our bench showed up and played. We got 47 points off the bench, and Bruce led that,” Sandoval said.
The Silverswords came out in the second half and fought their way back into a competitive game, closing the gap to 54-47. The Cougars were able to fight to get some of their cushion back, forcing the Silverswords to use a timeout with APU up 61-50. APU led by 18 points to close out the last few minutes of the game.
“We have the ability to look at each other in the eye and say, ‘Come on, pick it up and let’s do it,’” English said.
The win improves APU to 22-4 (15-3 PacWest). The Cougars face California Baptist at home Feb. 21.